Whitehorse runner David Eikelboom established a new course record last Sunday in the third year of the 80-kilometre Reckless Raven race through mountainous terrain.

His time of eight hours, 30 minutes and four seconds shaved more than 19 minutes of the fastest time established last year by Ian Weir of Whitehorse.

Weir finished second last Sunday, 43 minutes behind Eikelboom and well off his record pace of last year.

Eikelboom explained in an interview Thursday he and Weir were pretty much together through the first half, but Weir fell back.

Post-race, Weir told him he had started to develop heat stress up during one of the hottest days of the summer so far, he said.

“I think that’s what slowed him down,” Eikelboom said. “I think the issue with that is once it starts, you can’t bounce back.”

Matt Hosford of Mayo finished third in the open men’s category, in a time of 9:23:30.

Denise McHale of Carcross, running in the masters category, continued her dominance of the women’s event with the fastest time overall in 10:26:32, or one minute slower than her winning time last year. McHale finished second in the first year of the race in 2017, in a time of 10:27:23.

In the open women’s category on Sunday, Kelsey Knoll of Revelstoke, B.C., placed first in a time of 11:27:23. Hannah McDonald of Whitehorse was second in a time of 11:33:53 and Emily Bennett of Prince George, B.C. was third in 12:30:07.

Second in the women’s masters category was Natalie Thivierge of Whitehorse in a time of 13:45:32, and Michelle Bousquet of Pointe-Claire, Que., was third in 15:26:20.

In the men’s masters category, Darren Clyde of Edmonton place first in a time of 10:47:23. Marcin Vasina of Squamish, B.C. was second in 12:11:50 and Stuart Ashman of North Vancouver was third in 12:32:19.

In the men’s team event, Paternal Intuition – Ray Sabo and Rodney Hulstein – of Whitehorse finished first in a time of 9:17:16, or 47 minutes ahead of second place.

Sass + Sass, Haley Digel and Jane Hollenberg of Whitehorse, took the women’s team event in a time of 10:01:18.

Stuart Toop and Natasha Papachristoforou finished first in the mixed team event in time of 10:26:47.

The Reckless Raven takes runners through the backcountry in around Mount McIntyre, Haeckel Hill, Mount Sumanik and Fish Lake.

It kicked off at 6 a.m. at the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre. The last of the runners didn’t arrive back until almost 9 p.m.

From the rec centre, they climbed more than 3,000 feet in elevation to go across Mount Sumanik before dropping down 2,230 feet to Jackson Lake. Then it was climbing back up 1,150 feet to Mount McIntyre, and finally dropping 2,400 feet to the finish line at the rec centre.

Eikelboom said he and Weir were talking about it and they both feel like the grueling affair can be conquered in fewer than eight hours.

The draw of the Reckless Raven aside from the physical challenge is the opportunity to run through such different terrain and across ridges, he explained.

Eikelboom said he’s been running all year, and he suspects that it will take quite an effort to crack the eight-hour mark.

More than the challenge of the terrain the Reckless Raven presents is the challenge of running it in fewer than eight hours, and until he does, it will remain a target of his.

“Yeah, I think I can get under eight hours.”